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Making News Today…

Clinton on debate: 'I wasn't my best'

NEWTON, Iowa (CNN) - Democratic presidential front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton said Tuesday her performance may have been lacking at last week's presidential debate, but brushed aside criticisms she has not been clear on where she stands on the issues. Full Story

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The state of the economy is the number-one issue on the minds of Americans as the presidential election approaches, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Wednesday morning.

Eighty-two percent of Americans said the economy will be extremely or very important to their vote for president. Economic conditions edged out Iraq by two points, with 80 percent of those surveyed saying that the war is 'extremely or very important' to their vote.

Also, among the top five issues on the public's mind when contemplating their next vote for president are health care (76 percent), terrorism (76 percent), and Iran (73 percent).

The state of the overall economy weighed more heavily on the minds of voters than specific economic issues such as gas prices (67 percent), poverty (65 percent), taxes (63 percent) and immigration (61 percent).

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation telephone poll of 1,024 American adults was conducted over the weekend and had a sampling error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.

- CNN Political Assignment Editor Katy Byron

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Ky. governor loses bid for 2nd term

(CNN) - Republican Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher lost his bid for a second term Tuesday. Full Story

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===========================================================Political Hot Topics(Today's top political stories from news organizations across the country)

Washington Post: The Rules for a Fair FightOkay, folks, we've been here before. Not in this exact spot, but the trees sure look familiar. Is a woman candidate primarily a woman or a candidate? (Can't separate the two? Right! Advance to the next question.) We're going to tell you what The Rules are. (And why are there always more rules for the women?)

Quad City Times: Analysis: How Do Foes Stop Romney Money?
Riddle me this: How do you stop an ultra-wealthy presidential candidate who leads in early voting states, already has dumped $17.5 million of his own money into his bid and could spend boatloads more to rack up wins in a squeezed primary schedule?

LA Times: Electoral Vote Initiative Backers RevealedBackers of a proposed initiative that would change the way California's electoral votes are awarded disclosed Tuesday that they had received $538,000 from a list of donors who have contributed to a variety of presidential candidates.

New York Times: Your Ad Here: Web Surprise Hits ’08 Race
At least 32,000 times over those two days, users clicking on [Gay.com] got a Romney ad like one saying “Mitt Romney for President — Join Team Mitt!” and a link to the candidate’s Web site… Gay.com was not exactly what Mr. Romney’s campaign had in mind when it set out this summer to blanket the Web with messages about the candidate.

Washington Post: Dodd on Trail, Committee on Hold
Christopher J. Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, spent yesterday afternoon in Iowa running for president. His counterpart in the House, Barney Frank of the Financial Services Committee, spent yesterday running a meeting on bills to help those hurt by the subprime mortgage crisis.

Boston Globe: Cate Edwards Makes Her Case
She juggles her classes, court appearances for the Legal Aid Bureau, and work on a website start-up. It is a full schedule for any Harvard Law student, but Cate Edwards is also trying to help her father get elected president.

DC Examiner: A Republican Speaks About The GOP’s ‘Low Morale’
These are tough days for the GOP, and we got an insight into the unvarnished state of Republican morale Tuesday when a leading conservative member of the House of Representatives, speaking on the condition of anonymity, opened up about the current political climate.

Roll Call: Gingrich Briefs Top Democrats
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) came to Capitol Hill last week armed with recent polling data on a laundry list of pressing issues and showed them to an unlikely audience — two high-ranking Democrats.

The Hill: Door Is Left Open For N.Y. ‘Hippie Museum’ Cash
Funding for a controversial “Hippie museum,” co-sponsored by presidential front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), may still find a lifeline even though its earmark was stricken from a Senate appropriations bill earlier this year.

* Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani makes an endorsement announcement at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Then, Giuliani heads to South Carolina to visit his campaign headquarters in West Columbia.

* Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards speaks at the “Politics and Eggs” breakfast in Bedford, New Hampshire. After that, Edwards holds a town hall meeting in Amherst.

* Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, holds a town hall meeting at the American Legion in Livonia, Michigan and meets up with the press at Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids.

* Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson stops by Tommy's Ham House in Greenville, South Carolina. Later, he attends the Country Music Awards in Nashville, Tennessee.

* Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, delivers major policy speech at Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency in Bettendorf, Iowa. Later, Obama holds town hall meetings in Muscatine and Burlington and meets with local residents in Ft. Madison.

* Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee tours Iowa Metal Spinners in Cedar Falls, Iowa and meets with local residents at Doughy Joey's Peetza Joynt in Waterloo. Later, Huckabee delivers a speech at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls and attends an event in Vinton.

My God not only do we have a President with the lowest IQ of any President in Office, 115 we now have to subject the American People to a PRess Secretary who can not do her job. Hello Dana if you read this part of being press secretary would be getting the FACTS correct. Facts such as Congress did send initiatives on health care and benefits bills that would benefit CHILDREN. Your BOSS the one with the IQ of 115 VETOED them. Dana I urge you to step down and work with an Administration that has honor and dignity. If you chose to continue working for this current administration I urge you to stop spreading lies and help impeach the current PResidnet and Vice President. You are capable of more, (I hope).

God Bless America and Thank God for people like Kucinich. "We the People" not "we the Emperilists" or We the Plutrocracy".

Anyway Dana Perino you have a great haircut and color but you need to get the FACTS straight.

I am tired of you and your Freudian ideas so you can just go back to wherever you came from I am happy to just stay here with whoever these other people are. I really don't care if you know Fields because he was a waste of time and he always wanted to lock people up. Plus I didn't smoke then and he was making me breath second hand smoke. When he did talk he didn't make any sense.

Considering, the Iraq war which didn't have to be and ignoring the serious problems in Afghanistan trigger world-wide terrorism, the invasion of Illegal immigration in our country, the economy at it’s worse, gas prices at the pumps sky-rocketing, defective China products destroying the American family, the most scandals ever in any presidency, ignoring the voice of Americans and the world to not to go to war. America has never been hated as it is today because of a dictator!
I’ve never felt so insured and afraid to live in my own country!

What Nixon and Clinton did during their presidency is NOTHING in comparison to what this president has done and gotten away with it!